Eleven Eternal Moments
by Jcthegirl
Summary: Eleven cherished moments from meeting to parting of two star-crossed souls, doomed at their own hands. Wishing-Fire's Memories Challenge. Terra/Aqua.
1. Curiosity

_Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and all of its respective characters, locations, etc. belong to Square Enix and Disney. This challenge (**Memories Challenge**) belongs to Wishing-Fire._

_Different pairing for a change 8D I was going to do VanAqua, but that was taken so I started this. I know it's a bit over this time, but the rest won't be, I promise D:  
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><p><em>Curiosity<em>

The pitter patter of a child's footsteps bounced about the peaceful halls in rapid succession, one after the other, some coming two at a time. Occasionally a frustrated moan would interrupt the constant, somewhat high pitched grunts as something obviously thin and sleek whizzed through the air.

_Thud._

It was followed by a slightly delayed _oof _and the angry slap of palms meeting a stone cold floor.

"Why can't I get it right?" A young boy, physically ten but his eyes and face hinting at an approximate age of eight, flung himself spread-eagle onto the floor so his brown locks slid over the floor and arms bounced with the sudden impact.

_Click, creaaak._

He quickly turned his head to the left, taking no notice of the freezing floor. Sliding onto his knees, he cautiously crawled over to the nearby railing, and in the back of his mind played a boy's fantasies of sneaking up on enemies in a scarred battlefield. He pulled himself low to the ground and controlled his breath. In a flash, he was gripping the railing, eyes flashing, ready to pounce.

Instead of some mysterious enemy clad in heavy armor foreign to his eyes- though not his imagination- he found himself staring at a girl.

A girl with hands clasped behind her back while whirling around cheerfully, absorbing in the sights with a quiet hum. Her blue hair swished over her shoulders with her animated bouncing. Cerulean eyes wandered over the walls until they widened at a new sight.

Stained glass filtered now colored streams of light so they fell in a scattered circle over the floor. Intricate designs were woven into the glass with the delicate care of an experienced tailor, and she had a hard time believing it wasn't made of something less fragile, like yarn or cloth. And it even reflected her eye-

Wait. Those weren't her eyes.

Something closer to her than the window stirred against the high railing, and flashes of brown played through the bars.

Great, she had seen him! He had been having fun playing spy with himself; the Master would always sense him nearby and wasn't as tolerant as another child would be. But maybe, maybe girls were good at playing spies too...

"Hi there!" She stood on her tiptoes and waved cheerfully to him. Just say hi and you'll make new friends, or so her parents told her. Truth be told, the butterflies in her stomach wouldn't go away, but she had seen the boy perk up for a second.

_Maybe he just wants a friend too!_

Brimming with newfound optimism, she gave her brightest and most radiant smile possible.

"H-hi..." He lifted a hand awkwardly as if to wave, but it just hung there limply like a marionette's hand held up by a thin string.

"I'm Aqua!" She leaned forward with hands still grasping one another behind her back. Why wasn't he coming to greet her? Isn't it polite to greet guests? "What's your name?"

He kept to his perch, not wanting to leave its safety. The metal dug into his palms. "Terra."

She rocked back on her heels. "That's a pretty name," she mused.

Some of his manly composure coming back, he put his little fists on his hips as he straightened up. "It's not 'pretty!' I'm a boy, and Terra means earth in Latin."

"Well... flowers come out of the earth."

"But rocks too."

"Oh, and trees! They can be pretty," she offered.

"Well..." Geez, the girl had just gotten there, and she was already arguing with him! "Rocks are manly and they're brown and my hair is brown, so therefore my name is manly and not in any way 'pretty'."

The highly illogical argument made enough sense to him; he had used many more words than the average child would in a sentence- therefore, the better argument.

"If you say so..." She shrugged and leaned her head a bit into her shoulder nonchalantly so she could murmur stubbornly to herself. "But it's still a girl's name."

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><p><em>Just trying out a new pairing; hopefully I didn't kill it. ;; They've always struck me as the arguing, married couple type... XD<em>


	2. Friendship

_asdfjkl; I hate school so much. ;; CURSE YOU HOMEWORK._

_But thank you so much for the reviews and favorites and alerts, I wasn't expecting as much feedback as I got. ^^  
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><p><em>2. Friendship<em>

"Ow! What'd you do that for?" Terra rubbed the back of his head in pain, right where Aqua had sent a hurtling blizzard. She put her hands on her hips.

"Terra, the Master says we have to practice our magic too, instead of waving the Keyblade all over the place all the time," she scolded, waggling a finger in the air.

"But I'm no good at magic." He pouted and plopped down in a bed of cool grass with his arms crossed. Aqua lowered herself to the ground gracefully, sitting right next to him.

"You can be if you try hard enough," she said, peering at him to find the expression he was trying so hard to bury in his crossed arms and drawn up knees.

"But I _am_ trying..." It seemed Aqua was always so naturally good at things, even right when she started them- and it frustrated him to no end.

"Here, I'll help you!" Aqua bounced up and offered him a hand, which he stared at hesitantly before getting up.

"So, you have to stand like this..." She grabbed his arms with more force than he expected of a little girl and pushed him into a fighting stance.

"Now take out your Keyblade..."

"I knew that!"

"Just making sure, you meanie!" She stuck an uncharacteristic tongue out of her usually refined mouth. "And don't move!"

Aqua stepped back and mimicked the stance much more fluidly than Terra, and a little frown sprouted on his face, but he kept still.

"And... Blizzard!" She flicked her Keyblade forward and sent an icy ball into a nearby target, hitting it dead center. "Now you try!"

"Ok..." He copied her exact movements, albeit with more force and much more stiffly. His Keyblade whizzed forward, a blue light glowing at its tip, another freezing sphere flew out- and decided to stop in midair and fall to the grass in a cold slush. The two stared at it for a while, neither having had expected it to really go anywhere in the first place.

"Well..." Terra scratched the back of his head. "I guess it's better than I've ever done before."

Aqua giggled. "I'd hate to see what your magic looked like before!"

"Hey!" His stony expression cracked a smile, and he playfully pushed her. When their laughter died away to leave behind small smiles, he absentmindedly tapped a pebble with the tip of his shoe before kicking it out of sight.

"Thanks for, uh, you know-" He coughed awkwardly. "Helping me."

She smiled. "Of course! That's what friends are for, right?"

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><p><em>Corny things ftw. C: Things'll probably get more serious from here on out, with some fun stuff in between.<br>_


	3. Pity

_Thanks to **Hope Eternal, Terra ForceXIII, **and **Mirae-no-sekai** for reviewing! :D  
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><p><em>3. Pity<em>

"Hey Aq-" Terra strode up to her, waving cheerfully to his friend's turned back. He stopped abruptly with an alarmed look. "Aqua, are you ok?"

"Y-yeah," she panted heavily, dismissing her Keyblade. What was left of the targets she had been practicing on was strewn about the field in a haphazard mess of debris. "Just finishing with... my training..."

Staggering steps took her a few feet before Terra caught her, right before she hit the ground. She warily thought in the back of her mind that he probably caught her out of pure reflexes, or maybe he had wanted to show off his manly, glistening... his muscles. But instead, his concerned face hovered over hers with worry-ridden eyes. Aqua was both (somewhat reluctantly) pleased and, well, exhausted.

"I-I'm fine, you... can put me down, Terra. Thanks..." she mumbled, but instead of obeying the simple request, he clutched her tighter and began walking away.

"Terra, really, I'm fine." She forced as much strength into her words and began to struggle feebly in his sturdy grip. "I can make it back to my room on my own."

"I'm not taking you to your room," is all he said. Even she could see the poorly concealed smile rising on his lips.

"And just where are we going, then?"

He laughed lightly; maybe tired Aqua was better than stubborn Aqua. She could feel the laugh against her side. "Somewhere different."

Silence overtook the two as Terra stoically refused to say more.

Too drained to protest, Aqua took to wondering where they were going, but more importantly, why.

Did he feel bad for her? She was strong. No one was supposed to pity her. If anything, it was the other way around.

"We're here," he told her pleasantly, setting her down on a lush bed of cool grass. Aqua inhaled appreciatively. She loved the subtle, fresh smell the grass gave off, especially in the settling evening, with the sky full of the washed-out colors of daytime fading into night.

"So what are we doing here?" She clutched a fistful of grass.

"Don't you remember?" Terra plopped down next to her with hands clasped behind his head. She tilted her head toward him.

"Remember?" she intoned slowly, drawing each syllable out as if it was an unfamiliar word.

Terra chuckled sadly. Aqua used to remember those sorts of things. Lately, she hadn't.

"We used to come here, when we were little. We'd count the stars together. Remember? We'd get to about a hundred or so before we fell asleep out here, and the Master would always scold us the next day for sleeping out here." He stretched out more before laying his hands over his stomach and continuing to look up at the sky with a peaceful expression. "Course he gave up on that after the first five times or so."

Aqua reminisced silently, feeling ashamed she had to search her memories that hard to just recover a sliver of recollection.

"You used to love the stars," he murmured emptily. A few crickets' songs filled the still quiet. The stars wavered dangerously between light and dark, as did Terra's consciousness. His hand slid from his stomach to rest at his side. Right before he drifted off to sleep, Aqua's voice eased him back to reality.

"I never stopped loving them," she whispered softly. "It's just..."

She gazed at a bright one in particular.

"They remind me of home. I look at them every night and find mine."

"Me too," he sighed quietly, his hand twitching slightly against hers as they fell asleep under the ever-watching stars.

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><p><em>This one's my favorite so far. Exactly 600 words too ;o; And just as a little note about the title; <strong>Eternal Moments <strong>is a song on the BBS/Days/Coded soundtrack (which I still need!)_


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